Maya & Miguel Makes its Home at HSR/NY For Audio Post

hsr/ny has been awarded the audio postproduction assignment for the new, original animated TV series Maya & Miguel, from Scholastic Entertainment (New York, NY), the media and entertainment division of Scholastic Inc., the global children's publishing and media company. The daily strip, comprising 65 half hours of animated programming, began airing October 11th on PBS Kids.

Maya & Miguel chronicles the adventures of 10-year-old Latino twins, Maya and Miguel Santos, as they figure out how to leave their stamp on the vibrant world around them. Featuring their family, relatives and diverse neighborhood friends, Maya & Miguel will reflect back to viewers the cultural mosaic that our countrys neighborhoods have become.

The comedy revolves around Mayas well-intended meddling in her familys and friends lives, ultimately leading her to create new problems to solve. While every episode will take humorous twists and turns, the underlying message is the importance of ?doing good for the family and community, and the philosophy that shared happiness is greater than personal gain. Like its inspiration, I Love Lucy, Maya & Miguel will be a series chock full of fun and humorous antics from both the main characters and the protagonists.

On the challenges of mixing Maya & Miguel, hsr/ny Mixer George Meyer said, ?The audio post is relatively straightforward, but the sound effects are the key to this show. For hsr, Sound Effects and Foley Artist Dick Maitland who, by the way, has created the sound effects for Sesame Street for the last 36 seasons, is the real magician, creating well over 750 sound effects in each 22 minute episode, not counting footsteps and Foleys.

And Foley is the key word. Dick Maitland explained, ? Almost ½ to ¾ of all the effects you need are not to be found in existing sound effects libraries. It is faster, and better, to just perform or Foley the stuff - like footsteps, clothing movement, items dropped on a table, flapping parrots and all the silly stuff that goes on - right to picture. It is a daunting challenge not only because of the amount of work in each show but also the tightness of the schedules. Of course, there is a body of repeating effects, what we call ?signature effects for the characters and some of the actions, but because the writing is so clever and the episodes so varied and interesting, each presents its own challenge. The sound effects bring out the textured flavor, and provide weight and reality to the characters and the world they inhabit. There is a saying at the Yale Drama School that in theater you have to get people, and especially kids, to willingly suspend their disbelief. The same holds true for a cartoon show. We provide effects and weight that let the viewer get into the characters world and perceive it as a real thing, even if it is a cartoon.

Another part of the challenge, according to Maitland, is to ?make the effects work with the music and the dialogue. Because Maya & Miguel is an educational show we have to be careful, as we navigate around and have fun with the effects, that we not take away from the actual body of the show, which is the support of English language learners.

hsr/ny is mixing the 65 half hours on an SSL4000 console. The dialogue is being cut and played back in Audiofile, the music and sound effects are being played back in Digidesign ProTools, and hsr is finishing to 48K AIFF files that are redelivered to Scholastic, as they are cutting in 24, which reloads them back into their system and outputs the show.

The series is based on an original concept by Deborah Forte, President of Scholastic Entertainment. Forte is also the project Executive Producer and heads a team which includes Director Tony Kluck, Assistant Directors Andy Thom and Bradley Rodriquez, Postproduction Supervisor Shannon Fogarty and Producer Machi Tantillo.

Maya & Miguel also will be available on PBS Kids with a second audio track in Spanish (SAP).

The animation is being created by Starburst Animation Studios (Seoul, Korea) and Yeson Animation (Seoul, Korea).

The musical underscores are composed by David Ricard of Duotone Audio Group (New York, NY).

For the second season, George Meyer is also completing the audio post for Hope and Faith, ABC-TVs Friday night half-hour comedy starring Kelly Ripa and Faith Ford.

hsr/ny is New Yorks largest independent full service audio post-production facility. With 15 state-of-the-art studios, including several pre-production, sound design and music production rooms staffed by the best sound mixers in the city, hsr provides its clients with a complete audio solution, as it has for over 29 years. hsr/ny is headquartered at 420 Lexington Avenue, Suite 1934, New York, NY 10170; (212) 687-4180; (212) 697-0536.